Book review - The Seventh Raven

 

Title: The Seventh Raven

Author: David Elliott

Genre: retelling/verse novel

Similar books: The Daughters of Ys by MT Anderson

                      Wicked Girls by Stephanie Hemphill

Rating:

 

a literary reflection on a fairy tale

Summary (provided by publisher):When Robyn and his brothers are turned into ravens through the work of an unlucky curse, a sister is their only hope to become human again. Though she’s never met her brothers, April will stop at nothing to restore their humanity. But what about Robyn, who always felt a greater affinity to the air than to the earth-bound lives of his family?

My opinion: I don't believe I was familiar with this particular fairy tale, though I've read others that were similar. Maybe I'd find this book more compelling if I were. As a verse novel, it's a pretty quick read but not especially action driven. We have to assume a lot of actions from context. Elliot is doing some interesting things with poetic structure here, applying different structures to different characters based on personality. And there's some messaging about desire, longing, and duty. It's a valiant effort but more of a reflection than a narrative.

More information: The Seventh Raven releases March 16. 

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Picture books for everyone

 

The Floating Field by Scott Riley

What I like best about this book is that it doesn't feel the need to be a blunt object with the messaging. Riley presents the story in a simple, chronological manner. Events follow logically. We are presented with both the "what" and the "why" of the actions these boys took. The illustrations are dynamic and support the text well. The information is clear enough in both the text and the art that you could use this with small kids to do some basic comprehension analysis. Older kids can do more textual analysis, gleaning messaging, without those elements being flatly spelled out.

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Non-fiction book review - Classified

 

Classified by Traci Sorell

This book was the very first I'd heard of Mary Golda Ross and I'm always game to learn about trailblazing women. Classified does not disappoint. We are introduced to Mary as a youth, a girl with a passion for the sciences in an era when girls were not encouraged to pursue STEM careers and where higher education for non-whites was far from the norm. But Mary doesn't seem to have been at all bothered by those facts or by social pressures. She simply wanted to learn and followed her education to logical conclusions. This is a very brief biography and we learn very little about her contributions but this is largely due to the nature of that work. It is, as the title suggests, still classified. A cool addition to a collection of short biographies. 

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Book review - Project Pay Day

Title: Project Pay Day

Author: Brent Hartinger

Genre: realistic fiction

Similar books: Don't Get Caught by Kurt Dinan

                      King Dork by Frank Portman

Rating:

 

too unbelievable

Summary (provided by publisher): “Our parents just said we had to get summer jobs. They didn’t say *what* summer jobs!”
Dave and his two best friends, Hannah and Curtis, are looking forward to a summer of complete freedom, but their parents have another idea: they insist that the three teenagers get summer jobs. 
But the friends come up with a plan: Why not invent fake jobs to get their parents off their backs? The trouble is, their parents are going to want to see them bringing in real money. And that means finding a way to get-rich-quick, but without breaking the law, and without doing any actual work.
The summer passes and Dave, Curtis, and Hannah try a long list of schemes: trying to catch bank robbers to win the reward; scientifically calculating the “correct” number of jelly beans in a contest jar; finding and exploring a network of underground smugglers' tunnels; and even diving for sunken treasure. 
But “Project Pay Day” never quite goes according to plan, and they don’t make the money they need.
Soon summer is almost over, and they have no choice but to solve a big local mystery — or face the consequences of their actions, which includes their parents breaking up the trio for good!   

My opinion: From the beginning, I had trouble with the details of this book. One or two details that defy logic or don't match how things work in the real world are annoying but workable. But this book is littered with them in every chapter. Like the fact that Dave and his friends calculate the total they will need based on a 40 hour work week. It's a little detail, but what teen works a 40 hour week, especially for a first job? Or the sheer number of opportunities they have to make thousands of dollars in a single scheme in a small town Contests, solving crimes, treasure hunts - they have both fantastic and terrible luck. If the characters were more complex, it could be more forgiving of such a nonsense plot but that simply isn't the case. Dave, Curtis, and Hannah have no real depth and the parents are even more one dimensional. Hard pass.

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The Great Owl Repaint Project Finale (for now)

It's been a while, but at long last I've finished up repainting my collection of owls. I had a couple of small owls that we name Tippy and Tupelo. 

I modeled them on the juvenile look of the Great Horned Owl and the Oriental Bay Owl.

 

Book review - Like Home

 

Title: Like Home

Author: Louisa Onome

Genre: realistic fiction

Similar books: Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro

                     Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Rating: 

 

socially complex

Summary (provided by publisher): Chinelo, or Nelo as her best friend Kate calls her, is all about her neighborhood Ginger East. She loves its chill vibe, ride-or-die sense of community, and the memories she has growing up there with her friends. Ginger East isn't what it used to be though. After a deadly incident at the local arcade, most of her friends' families moved away. Kate, whose family owns the local corner store, is still there and as long as that stays constant, Nelo's good.
When Kate's parent's store is vandalized and the vandal still at large, Nelo is shaken to her core. And then the police and the media get involved and more of the outside world descends upon Ginger East with promises to "fix the neighborhood." Suddenly, Nelo finds herself in the middle of a drama unfolding on a national scale.
Worse yet, Kate is acting strange. She's pushing Nelo away at the exact moment they need each other most. Now Nelo's entire world is morphing into something she hates and she must figure out how to get things back on track or risk losing everything--and everyone--she loves.
 

My opinion: I've started noticing book recently that focus on gentrification. It's an unexpected trend but an important one. We need to understand the full social impact of these events on people and communities. This book shows us a community in decline, largely because of gentrification. Always a bit of a rough place, Ginger East is losing small businesses and desperation is driving residents to actions of questionable legality. While the inciting incident is an act of vandalism, the plot isn't especially driven by the mystery of the vandal's identity. Rather, the focus is on how the world around Nelo is changing: businesses and people. We see how moving to different neighborhoods and stratified a once tight-knit group of friends to the point that they barely understand each other. We see a number of different perspectives on the changes in Ginger East, both positive and negative. Onome also invites us to consider who has a right to be a part of the conversation about these changes. We see characters taking advantage of a social justice situation for their own benefit, for optics. We're asked to question what battles are worth fighting and when we just need to accept change. This is a book with a lot of content, but not a lot of action. More thinking than doing.

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Graphic Novel Spotlight - Aster and the Mixed-Up Magic

 

Aster and the Mixed-Up Magic by Thom Pico

Aster is an adventure somewhat reminiscent of Hilda (with a touch of Chickenhare thrown in for complexity). We are presented with a wide variety of folk-tale creatures and all sorts of magic. Aster is also balancing her role in this magical world while keeping it hidden from most of the people around her, including her mother. It should be said that this volume is a sequel, but I was a couple of pages in before that became apparent. Its easy enough to understand this book without being familiar with the first one (though I'd recommend reading them in order if you have the chance). Not only are we given sufficient context for the events of the first book, the plot of this one basically stands on it's own, only contributing small elements to the larger series plot. It's a fun adventure with a fair amount of humor and charming illustrations. 

 Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley